Yarns at Yin Hoo

A Podcast About the Fiber Arts and Other Post Apocalyptic Skills

podcasts

Episode 169

This episode includes the following segments: On the Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Yarn Lover at Large. There is lots of news from MDSW and

May 21, 2017May 21, 20172 Min Reading

Episode 168

This episode features the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, and Gratitude Journal. This episode includes a giveaway. Listen and post here for

May 7, 2017May 9, 20172 Min Reading

Episode 167

This episode includes the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Off the Shelf, and Gratitude Journal. The Back Porch The Front Porch Jasmine

April 23, 2017April 23, 20171 Min Reading

Episode 166

This episode features an interview with local shop owner Hope Horn. She opened Hope’s Favorite Things in October 2015. This charming shop in the Village

April 21, 2017April 23, 20171 Min Reading

Episode 165

This episode includes the following segments: Yarn Lover at Large, Off the Shelf, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Sew Forth. Yarn Lover at Large Off the

April 18, 20173 Min Reading

Episode 164

This episode is intended for participants in the upcoming Knit Local Getaway. I provide an overview of the weekend, some packing tips, and other details.

April 8, 2017April 8, 20171 Min Reading

Episode 163

This episode features the following segments: The Front Porch, The Back Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Off the Shelf. Cover Art by Samuel St. Thomas

April 8, 2017April 8, 20172 Min Reading

Episode 162

This episode includes the following segments: The Front Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Sew Forth. The Front Porch Pattern Ideas for the Summer Top Make-along

March 26, 20171 Min Reading

The design for this super-cozy cowl was inspired by textiles in a hotel lobby. Concentric geometric shapes kept playing in my mind until finally I was able to chart the pattern and get it onto my needles. The interplay of this chevron-like patterning has a mesmerizing effect–while you’re knitting and when you wear the finished accessory.

Knit up a cowl with yarn from your stash, adding some magical new mini-skeins from your advent calendar, or exchange leftover yarn with a friend. The design invites frequent color changes, and makes an ideal knit for the advent season. It could be just as striking knit with two high-contrast colors.

While most cowls of this type are seamed within a band of a single color, this pattern incorporates a technique called stranded donut grafting, an incredibly clever and completely seamless graft that allows you to maintain colorwork patterning so that your starting and ending rounds are undetectable. Really! With many possibilities for color play and a new technique to add to your skill set, this cowl pattern is really an opportunity for knitters to level-up!

ONE DARK BLUE NIGHT

This hat is the third in a series of patterns inspired by teachings in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves. This time, I drew inspiration from Estés’ retelling of a Japanese tale, Tsukina Waguma or “The Crescent Moon Bear,” in which a young woman travels to the cave of an incredibly intimidating and ferocious bear. She makes several journeys to the cave, leaving food and quickly retreating, until “one dark blue night,” she musters the courage to stand her ground and ask for what she seeks--one hair from a moon-shaped patch on the bear’s chest--which she is granted. The young woman returns, triumphant, to the old healer who has sent her on this quest. She believes this single hair is the magic ingredient in solving the problem that plagues her. She holds it forth, but the healer tosses the hair into the flames. The young woman is in despair until she realizes the true lesson of her quest: that using her determination, courage, and patience, as she did with the crescent moon bear, will help her to confront the challenge at hand.

The moon phase motif of this colorwork hat is meant to capture the magic of a dark blue night--when the moon shines brightly overhead, the frosty air sparkles with possibility, and we succeed in summoning accumulated wisdom from deep within ourselves so that we can apply it to our own healing. Choose colors to conjure a wintery night sky, or select a palette of your signature colors.

Available on Ravelry December 20th.